Mar 17, 2009 12:26 am US/Eastern
Miami Police ID Those Killed In Murder-Suicide
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Police say a South Florida man killed several people, including his estranged wife, Sunday morning before going home and taking his own life. .
CBS
Miami police have identified the five people killed over the weekend in an apparent murder-suicide early Sunday morning.
The murders occurred just after midnight when Guillermo Lopez, 48, reportedly showed up uninvited at a birthday party celebration going on in a home at 2852 SW 38 Court.
Richard Nunez, who lives next to house, said the some of the people at the party had just handed him a plate of arroz con lechon (rice and pork) over the backyard fence when Lopez showed up and started shooting.
"There was a normal party going on there. They were roasting a pig," Nunez said. "The guy walks in and everybody looked surprised, like, 'what are you doing here?' And there was a quiet. Then, 'no, no, no, no, no, no, no!' And then, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow! That was it. He didn't even talk. Never said a word. Just started shooting."
The barrage of bullets shattered glass doors and perforated couches and chairs in the yard where the party was in full swing. The dozen or so party goers inside the house ran for cover or out onto the street for help.
Neighbors told police they heard about thirty shots with a few breaks in between while Lopez apparently reloaded.
"They went off, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. Silence. And then again. Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. Silence. And then again," said Nunez.
When police arrived they found four people dead inside the home. The dead were identified as Lopez's estranged wife, 50-year old Lazara Mendez; Lopez's step-daughter, 19-year old Nayla Canfux; Canfux's boyfriend, 27-year old Francisco Casas; and Casas' grandmother 77-year old Maria Lefran Christ. The party was to celebrate Casas' 27th birthday.
Friends say Mendez was a popular cashier at La Habana Vieja, a popular Cuban restaurant on Coral Way.
"She was a real nice woman, friendly with everybody, friendly with our customers. We will really miss her. It was a shock for us. It is still a shock," said La Habana Vieja manager Julio Varona.
Police said that Lopez and Mendez had been married for about four years but she had left him a few months ago.
Neighbor Juan Sosa said he witnessed Lopez stalking the people in the house.
"The guy was parked about half an hour prior," said Sosa. "The guy was walking back and forth, with his pickup truck with his lights turned off."
After the sounds of gunfire ceased, Sosa said Lopez drove off in his red pickup; a frightening night that Sosa will never forget.
"I could've been killed cause I was walking my dog last night," said Sosa. "Especially the way he was firing around out here."
Minutes after the shooting rampage, firefighters were called to a fire several miles away at 701 SW 33rd Avenue. Inside they found Lopez dead from of a gunshot wound. At the time, Miami Fire Rescue didn't know the cases were linked.
"When we first pulled in there we thought we were pulling out maybe a resident of the home who was overcome by smoke," says Miami Fire-Rescue Spokesman Ignatius Carroll. "But we found there seemed to be a little bit more we called Miami Police homicide and they took over the scene."
Firefighters say Lopez placed gas and propane gas tanks in his home and his truck before setting both on fire. Fortunately, fire fighters were able to extinguish the flames before the tanks exploded.
"Luckily because had those tanks exploded we would have probably had severely injured people next door who had nothing to do with whatever this person was trying to do," said Carroll.
Sunday's murders came less than a montha after a South Florida music teacher gunned downed several family members before taking his own life.
On February 25th, Pablo Amador shot and killed his wife Maria and two of his daughters, Rosa and Priscila, before turning the gun on himself. Amador's 16-year old son Javier survived his father's murderous rampage as did the couple's eldest daughter Bea who was not home at the time of the murders.
CBS4 reporters Gary Nelson, Tiffani Helberg and Liv Davalos contributed to this report
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